A knock on the security office window
It is 2am. A student in a hoodie says they have locked themselves out of room 4.12. The night security officer has a printed list from last week, or a login to the booking system on a desktop in the back office. They let the student in, write it in the night book, and move on to the fire alarm on the third floor.
By morning, nobody knows whether this was the student's first lockout or their fifth, whether a charge should apply under your policy, or whether the fob they lost is still active and sitting on the pavement outside.
Why this keeps going wrong
Out-of-hours staff are often security contractors rather than your own team, working from paper and whatever access they have been given. The information they need, like who lives in which room, their photo and their history, sits in the booking system, which is not designed for a guard on a phone.
- Identity is checked by asking the student their name and room, which anyone could know.
- Night logs are paper books that the day team reads, if at all, the next morning.
- Lockout charges depend on someone carrying the note across to finance.
- Lost fobs are replaced, but the old fob is not always cancelled.
- Repeat lockouts by the same student are invisible because each is recorded separately.
The quiet cost of it
Letting in someone who does not live there is a safety and security risk for every resident on the corridor. Live fobs that should have been cancelled mean you do not really know who can enter the building. Charges that are never raised mean the policy only exists on paper, and the staff time for replacements and let-ins is carried by the site.
What we build for lockouts and fobs
- Night and day staff get a mobile page that shows current residents by room, with the photo taken at check-in if you collect one.
- When a student asks to be let in, the staff member searches the room, checks the photo and details, and records the let-in in two taps.
- Each let-in and fob replacement is logged with time, staff member and building, and counted against the resident.
- Your charge rules are applied, for example no charge for the first lockout in a term, and charges are sent to your booking or finance system as pending items for the day team to confirm.
- When a fob is reported lost, a task is created to cancel it in your access control system. Where that system has an API, the cancellation happens directly.
- Residents with repeated lockouts are shown on a weekly list, which residence life can pick up if it points to something more than forgetfulness.
| Event | Recorded now | With the log |
|---|---|---|
| Let-in at night | Paper night book | Logged against the resident with identity check |
| Lost fob | Replacement issued | Old fob cancelled, new fob recorded |
| Charge due | Often forgotten | Pending charge for approval |
| Repeat lockouts | Not noticed | Weekly list |
What you charge, and when you waive it, is your own policy. The log applies the rules you set.
What changes for the night team
Night staff can check who someone is in seconds, from where they are standing. The day team arrives to a clear log, not a book to decipher. Finance sees charges that are ready to confirm. The access list stays accurate, which matters every time you need to know who can get into the building.
Is this happening in your building?
- Night staff let residents in based on a name and a room number.
- Lockouts are recorded in a paper book or not at all.
- Lockout and fob charges are often not raised.
- Lost fobs are not always cancelled.
- You cannot say which residents get locked out most often.